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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. T.. ASHWORTH. TOBACCO GUM 0R RETAINER.

No. 448,746. PatentedMar. 24, 1891.

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J. T. ASHWORTH. TOBACCO GUM 0R RETAINER.

No. 448,746. Patented Mar. 24, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

JOEL T. ASIHVORTII, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONEJIALF TO JOSEPH G. ROSS, OF SAME PLACE.

TOBACCO GUM OR RETAINER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,746, dated March 24, 1891. Application filed October 4, 1890. Serial No.36'7,102. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOEL T. ASHWORTH, a resident of Richmond, in the county of Ilenrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in TobaccoGums or Retainers; andldoherebyde clare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

In themanufacture of tobacco after it has been formed into what is known as lumps, which are rectangular cakes, these lumps will expand if at once removed from the press that is, from the receptacle into which it has been compressed, sometimes called the pot. This expansion is undesirable, because when expanded the lumps will not enter the boxes, which are made of a size to exactly fit them as they are formed in the press. It has therefore been the custom to leave the tobacco lumps in the pots until they become set and will keep their size and shape, which requires a period of twenty-four hours or more; but by this practice the proper use of the press was too much interrupted. Retaining-boxes, properl known as tobacco ums or retainers have therefore been employed. These boxes are made with interior dimensions precisely equal to those of the pots or of the boxes in which the tobacco was subsequently to be placed for shipment and sale, and the lumps formed in the press were transferred to these retainers, the walls of which were held in place by suitable keys, and the required or standard size of the lump tobacco was by these means retained until it set and could. be put in boxes made of thin stuff without danger of distorting or splitting their walls.

The object of the present invention is to improve these retainers and to dispense with a large part of the keys heretofore required and to provide a device which can be quickly and economically manipulated; and it consists in the construction hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Inthe accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top, and Fig. 2 a bottom View, of the im proved device. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the closed retainer; and Fig. 4is an isometric View of the same, the front being removed and the device partially opened.

The retainer consistsof two side walls 1 1, hinged to the rear wall 2 and provided with loose top 3, bottom 4, and front 5.

6 6 are side bars secured, by preference, permanently to the side walls and connected by a hinged joint 7 with similar bars secured to the rear wall 2. \Vhen not locked, the two sides can be moved each about its hinge 7, so as to open the retainer as the covers of a book are opened; but as the hinges are formed in the external bars the sides are moved away from each other through their whole extent when moved about the pivots 7. Two bars are connected to each side and to the rear wall, though more or less can be used, if desired. he side bars at their front ends are forked and each prong 8 is curved, substantially as shown.

The front wall of the retainer supports two bars 9 9, each of which fits in two horizontally-opposite forks and between their prongs and extends a short distance beyond or outside of the same. The levers 10 10 are pivoted to these, and have their pivoted ends eccentrically formed on a curve slightly larger than the curve of the pron the construction being such that when the levers are turned, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, the sides are clamped upon the ends 2 and 5,, and when thrown outwardly, indicated in dotted lines in the same figure, they are released from engagement with the forks of the side bars, whereupon the sides of the retainer can be moved about their hinge-pivots 7. This opens the retainer for the removal of alump that is set and the introduction of one fresh from the press.

To hold the bottom and top in place between the clamped sides bars 11 are fitted in the sides and extended above them and provided with slots 12. Their opposite ends are bent at right angles, as shown at 13.

14 are metal bars fitted in the under side of the bottom 4. Similar bars 14' are fitted in the upper side of the top 3. These bars let 14- are designed to protect the top and bottom, which are usually made of wood, when the tobacco is pressed into the retainers.

IOO

This pressure can be applied in any convenicnt manner, and bya followcrresting on the top 3 and forced down by suitable devices.

15 is a bar inserted through the slots 12 in the bars 11 above the top, and i are keys or Wedges driven in to lock the top down upon the tobacco. These, of course, must be removed before opening the retainer, as above described.

The lower surface of thebentends 13 of the bars 11 are in the same plane as the under surface of the bottom,s0 that they rest on the floor or other support for the retainer. The inner surface of the bars 11 and of the sides of the retainer are also made coincident to leave a smooth uninterrupted surface on the tobacco.

By providing extra bottoms the lumps can be left standing upon the bottoms of the retainers in which they have been set until such time as it is convenient to put them in boxes. These can then be arranged alongside or end to end, and thelumps slid from their bottoms directly into the boxes.

The size of the device can be indefinitely varied, and any suitable material employed in their manufacture. The particular form of the hinges and of the locking-cams can also be varied. The bars 11 may be varied in number and location, and I. contemplate fitting them in the outer surface of the side walls.

Other mechanical changes can be made without departing from the invention so long as the principles of operation and construction or not substantially altered. In some cases the use of partitions is contemplated, whereby the contents of the retainer may be divided into separate bodies, lumps, or cakes, which partitions can be variously arranged and adjusted.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A tobacco-retainer having its sides hinged to its rear and bearing on the edges of the bottom and provided with looking devices for securing them to the front, its top and front being removable, and devices for fastening the top against the edges of the sides, whereby the exact size of the lump as it comes from the press is retained, and whereby the sides can. be swung away from the bottom and the top and front can be entirely removed to give access to the tobacco lump for the purpose of sliding it off from the bottom, substantially as set forth.

2. A tobacco-retainer having its sides hinged to its rear and bearing on the edges of the bottom and provided with looking devices for securing them to the front, its top, front, and bottom being removable, and devices for fastening the top against the edges of the sides, whereby the exact size of the lump as it co mes from the press is retained, and whereby the sides can be swung away from the bottom and the top and bottom can be entirely removed to give access to the tobacco lump for the purpose of sliding it off from the bottom, and whereby before such latter operation the sides, rear, top, and front are at liberty to be used with other bottoms, substantially as set forth.

A tobacco retainer having the sides hinged to the rear, and devices for securing them to the front, and having a separable front, top, and bottom,said bottom being provided with the bars fitted into the underside thereof, said sides having vertical bars provided with loops at their upper ends and bent inwardly at their bottoms, the side and bottom bars being arranged in the same vertical plane, and the bends of the side bars being located above the surface of the bottom and under said bottom bars, and wedges adapted to enter the loops and fasten the top upon the sides, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOEL T. ASIIWOR'III.

Witnesses:

Jos. G. Ross, Wit. E. Itxanusrr. 

